Romanian Hospitals Quarantined To Prevent Spread Of AH1N1 Flu Virus

Health Ministry secretary of state Adrian Streinu-Cercel on Monday said the measure to place all hospitals under quarantine translates into fewer patient visits and fewer medical staff.

Streinu-Cercel said the ministry will issue an order setting that family physicians will start vaccinating people.

The ministry will start distributing antiviral medicines to the infections diseases units within county hospitals and will assign 27 million lei (EUR1=RON4.3047) to hospitals in areas hit by the new flu to buy surgical masks and disinfectants.

Streinu-Cercel also said Romania has 400,000 doses of antiviral medicines and another 1,375,000 doses will soon be purchased. He added the ministry scrapped plans to buy one million doses of vaccine against AH1N1 flu virus from foreign medicine producers, because doses would have been ready in the first quarter of 2010.

Romania will set off the vaccination campaign against the AH1N1 flu virus on November 26 – 27 and will use vaccines produced by the Cantacuzino Institute. The first 1.3 million doses will be used on medical staff, high school students and university students in eastern city of Iasi and capital city Bucharest. Other doses of vaccine will be used for border police staff deployed mainly at Romania’s border with Ukraine.